Yesterday I had an impulse to do another float. I hadn’t done one since July, which hadn’t gone well (see below), but yesterday’s went extremely well! My usual weirdness! I’ve had so much going on this year with writing and family events, then trying to catch up around the house with having been busy with the writing and family events, that I hadn’t had time to do another float. I’ve tried to meditate a couple times when I could slow my ass down, tried two or three times just this week, but I was lucky to get five minutes in. So, I thought I have a pre-paid package of floats waiting for me at Luna, why not see if there were any openings that afternoon/evening—and there were. So I went after the gym.

But, first, here’s my previous float that didn’t go so well. I’d written up notes about it but not posted it. You’ll see why when you read it. I didn’t want it to be my last post on the matter, figured it’d be a while before my next one (it was!), and figured I’d wait until I had a good one to include it.

Here it is:

Float Number 4, July 16, 2016

I simply could not get into it! I was getting absolutely nothing.

I’d only had two images at the very beginning:

a weird-looking cylindrical light source attached at about head height to a door way/wall that had a tiny bright red light shining out

and looking down at white-sneakered feet at the end of blue-jeaned legs (not sure if mine or another’s…male or female).

I’d ended up terminating the 90-minute session about 45 minutes into it. It was my first attempt at a 90-minute session. But, in my defense, I’d woken up in a weird mood that day and hadn’t slept well the night before. And after the float? Yeah,more weird shit….

As I floated, I tried all my usual methods to get into it, but all failed. I actually felt two-dimensional…“psychically flat.”And as I floated there, I felt a sharp change in my state of mind that was not like normal-me…I felt a “stupidity” of being naked in a tub of water “out in public” in a way that was stark and depressing…like WTF am I doing? I was overtaken by this “two-dimensional” feeling.

I also felt a “rip in time” when all this was going on, which really only lasted for maybe, I don’t know, a minute or two? It was a stark, depressive state…I felt “what’s the point?”…but as soon as I recognized what was happening, I said “No!” and pulled myself out of it. It was very weird. Everything after that seemed a flat-out “nope, not gonna happen”…like my inner journey was being “withheld” from me. So, I tried to allow it some more time… “played around” in the water (it felt good playing rocking back and forth in the water with zero frame of reference—try it!)…but it just wasn’t happening. Sooo, I got out.

Except for about two images, I’d seen no shapes, no colors, nothing.

When I arrived for the float I’d told Morgan, one of the owners, that I was having a weird day…that I hadn’t slept well that night, kept waking up, and was in a “weird” state of mind. So I left and went out into my day…thought would run some errands.

As I was out and about…took a wrong turn at an interstate off-ramp and had to circle back…what had me sitting at a stoplight…I’d heard this “pop” and a “thud” and something drop. I looked around and saw nothing. Thought it was from a vehicle behind me. But as I went through the first of a series of lights that’s when I saw the steam coming out of the right front of the hood! I look to the temp gauge—pegged at “H.”

Joy.

I pulled into a parking lot. Since I’d had a towing company already in my cell from past experience (let’s just leave it at that), I gave em a call and had it towed. I got sunburned standing out in the sun (in the upper 90s) waiting for the tow.

Sigh.

So, that is what happened on July 16th and why I didn’t want to post it and leave it as my last float experience for so long! yesterday’s went extremely well, so let’s dive into that one!

Float Number 5, October 14, 2016

This was also another try at a 90-minute float, and this time I actually completed it. I think 90-minutes is too long for me, so won’t do those anymore. The 60-minute ones work perfectly for me.

Here is what I experienced on this float:

Early in, I again had the flitting between images and colors and events and conversations. Felt so good to be back to normal!

Also at the very beginning, I felt a cool/cold “breeze” flit across my face. This is quite interesting (okay, “weird”—my favorite word!) because in the pod, it’s totally enclosed! There are no breezes! No fans that deliver cool/cold air. There’s a jet in the pod, under the water, recycles the water, but nothing that spits cool air across my face!

I was part of a conversation with a young blonde wearing a bright red (with black crosshatching) flannel shirt. In the image I was looking straight at her, and she was off to my left. I actually saw the woman’s face but didn’t recognize her. But it was a bright red flannel shirt. She said a couple of things, but the only thing I now remember was that she was proud of me, what I was doing. Really? Who are you? She was gone, and—

There was another conversation something about e-mailing someone every day. I don’t know if was me or I was listening to others, but I’d heard another person answer “no,” and I also found myself echoing that answer with a “no”—and my head actually, physically shook vigorously back and forth in the water!

My limbs again when tingly throughout the session.

I’d opened my eyes a couple times while in there. The first time I did so I saw faint (i.e., not stark, and real-life like) images above me. Saw:

Eyes

Faint outlines of faces

Yellows and blues

Given the above, I played around looking at the “shapes before my eyes” that you see…and I actually found in every single case that what I saw behind my eyes with my eyes closed…I also saw the exact same thing when I opened my eyes! Have to admit I didn’t really expect that! So it did not matter whether or not my eyes were physically opened or closed…if I saw any shapes behind my eyes there were still there when I opened my eyes! It was actually hard to tell if they were opened or closed, other than the physical sensation of opening and closed my eyelids!

Somewhere partway through the 90-minute session, I began to get a little antsy. I actually physically got up and out of the pod for just a moment…but soon went back in. I was able to get back into things, but it wasn’t as intense as the first part of the session.

This, however, was quite interesting! Shortly after getting back in the pod, I suddenly had the urge to think about how much I absolutely love my life…myself…and those in my life…and I projected that three-dimensionally out into the world! My entire body suddenly lit up like I just been jacked with a millions of volts of electricity! I managed to maintain that feeling for several moments, actively projecting that out into the world into all dimensions…and man, did it electrify the hell out my body!

Saw an image of an outline of a heart.

Toward the end saw blues and yellows.

Those are the highlights I remember. As I’ve said, it’s hard to remember all the stuff that goes on in my sessions, because I flit so quickly in and out of the experiences! Some of them are stark and intense, like the blonde in the in the flannel. There were several conversations I’d flew in and out of, but I simply couldn’t capture enough to remember…or in trying to remember them, I’d miss out on other experiences trying to show themselves. Being able to see the exact same shapes behind my eyes with my opened or closed was amazing to me. That seems to imply that there’s actually “something there,” and it’s not just some kind of optical illusion.

And then there was the Love!

Wow.

That caught me totally off-guard! And it was such a wonderful, beautiful feeling! The effect on my body was overpowering, utterly incredible. I was radiating the love for my life out into my life.

We need more of this.

Anyway, it was nice to get back into the swing of things after that fourth session! Everything happens for a reason, and I just had too much going on that last time. I’m so glad I listened to my impulse, yesterday, to do a float at the last-minute!

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7 comments on “Floats Number 4 and 5”

Great. Eyes open eyes closed, same image, truly interesting. Are you experiencing this similarly to a good round of meditation or can you not meditate at all that well. My experience is it’s very hard to meditate. The closest thing I get to that is during yoga cool down, which I did today after zumba.

I rarely meditate in a totally dark room! Always some light! Usually, when I can get into the meditation, I don’t have a problem, unless my mind is running wild like it sometimes does. In the pod, or sensory deprivation, all your physical senses are masked, so it’s far easier to get into this “weird stuff.” And if you’re already used to delving inward, it’s even easier and far more weird, like what I get here. I’ve talked with a bunch who’ve floated and never meditated, and they just don’t get the experiences I get. When I meditate a lot, I do get a fair amount of weird stuff, but nothing like I get in these sensory deprived pods. It’s light-years better!

I forgot to add the following when I first wrote this, this morning (knew I was missing something!). I remembered it and has now added it (second bullet to what I’d experienced in yesterday’s float):

“Also at the very beginning, I felt a cool/cold “breeze” flit across my face. This is quite interesting (okay, “weird”—my favorite word!) because in the pod, it’s totally enclosed! There are no breezes! No fans that deliver cool/cold air. There’s a jet in the pod, under the water, recycles the water, but nothing that spits cool air across my face!”